Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) Information:
Ranking: Number one in the world and in the U.S., with 95.5 million passengers. Location: Ten miles south of the city center, with extensive nearby hotel accommodations. Major Airlines: Hartsfield-Jackson is Delta's largest hub, and Delta carries about 77 percent of the airport's total passengers. AirTran (plus Southwest) operates a much smaller hub, with 15 percent of the flights. Most big domestic airlines (except JetBlue) have a few flights. International flights are mainly on Delta and SkyTeam partners. Layout: The field has five parallel runways, providing one of the highest capacities in the U.S. Passenger facilities consist of a series of six parallel midfield concourses plus a separate international terminal, connected by an underground people mover. Hubbing does not require passing through security again: Almost all gates and the people mover are inside a single air-side security zone. Performance: 80 percent of departures and 82 percent of arrivals are on time, the average departure delay is 55 minutes and arrival delay is 62 minutes, and cancellations are at 0.9 percent. Ground Transportation: Heavy-rail system Marta serves the airport with frequent trains to the city center ($2.50). The flat-rate taxi fare is $30–$32 to the city center. Numerous shuttles serve the city and surrounding areas. Rental cars are centralized in a single area, connected to the airport by a people mover.
North of this area by way of the MARTA, you can visit the Margaret Mitchell House; she was the author of Gone With the Wind (Website: http://www.margaretmitchellhouse.com/ ). The Martin Luther King Birthplace is a National Historic Site run by the US Park Service (Website: http://www.nps.gov/malu/index.htm ). It is free to visit, and most of it is self-guided.
If you are into boutique shops, galleries, and live music, head to Decatur. It's six miles east of downtown Atlanta, but you can take the MARTA (Website: http://www.visitdecaturgeorgia.com/index.aspx?page=9 ). The Pinewood Tippling Room in Decatur (Website: http://www.pinewoodtr.com/ ) served a nice breakfast. There's plenty of nice places to eat in this town.
Another walkable community along the MARTA line that has a variety of shops and restaurants is East Point (Website: http://www.atlanta.net/eastpoint/index.aspx ). This area is close to the airport. You can stay at a hotel in this area and be near Hartsfield via the MARTA.
If you rent a car, you can head to Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain Park is easy to find. It is located just 15 miles east of downtown Atlanta on US Highway 78. Just take exit 39 B off Interstate 285 and follow Highway 78 east for 8 miles. The main entrance for Stone Mountain Park is exit 8 off of Highway 78. It's a park and home to the huge carving of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis (Websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain and http://www.stonemountainpark.org/ and http://www.stonemountainpark.com/ ).
Atlanta has a lot to offer, but it's quite humid in the summer. You can also use Atlanta as a jump-off point to drive to other places such as Charleston, SC, Savanah, GA, or Myrtle Beach, SC.
Enjoy!
Mike Summers
George Hobica - November 2013:
external image highmuseum.jpg
Atlanta (ATL) Short (1-4 hours): Nap - or just kick back in privacy – with free wireless and DIRECTV at Minute Suites ($34/hr, Concourse B). Fuel up on smart grub and great cocktails at One Flew South (Concourse E). Long (4 hours or more): Take MARTA to the Arts District Station ($2.50, 25 min) to the High Museum of Art or go on a long walk in Piedmont Park, Atlanta's giant front lawn. Very long (overnight): Ride the free SkyTrain one stop to SpringHill Suites (from $169), check-in, drop bags. Take MARTA to Midtown ($2.50, 20 min), dinner one block east at Hugh Acheson's very good Empire State South. More info: Check out Airfare Watchdog's ATL insider guide.
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Atlanta Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Atlanta
Atlanta Downtown Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Atlanta/Downtown
Georgia Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Georgia_(American_state)
Stone Mountain Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Stone_Mountain
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) Information:
Ranking: Number one in the world and in the U.S., with 95.5 million passengers.
Location: Ten miles south of the city center, with extensive nearby hotel accommodations.
Major Airlines: Hartsfield-Jackson is Delta's largest hub, and Delta carries about 77 percent of the airport's total passengers. AirTran (plus Southwest) operates a much smaller hub, with 15 percent of the flights. Most big domestic airlines (except JetBlue) have a few flights. International flights are mainly on Delta and SkyTeam partners.
Layout: The field has five parallel runways, providing one of the highest capacities in the U.S. Passenger facilities consist of a series of six parallel midfield concourses plus a separate international terminal, connected by an underground people mover. Hubbing does not require passing through security again: Almost all gates and the people mover are inside a single air-side security zone.
Performance: 80 percent of departures and 82 percent of arrivals are on time, the average departure delay is 55 minutes and arrival delay is 62 minutes, and cancellations are at 0.9 percent.
Ground Transportation: Heavy-rail system Marta serves the airport with frequent trains to the city center ($2.50). The flat-rate taxi fare is $30–$32 to the city center. Numerous shuttles serve the city and surrounding areas. Rental cars are centralized in a single area, connected to the airport by a people mover.
Mike Summers; September 2012:
I went to Atlanta with the primary purpose of seeing the Atlanta Braves Baseball team play a game at Turner Field (Turner Field Website:
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/atl/ballpark/tours/index.jsp ). Our earliest Frontier flight doesn't arrive in Atlanta until 3:15 PM. If you don't want to rent a car, you can use Atlanta Public Transportation (including Light Rail) I took the MARTA (Website:
http://www.itsmarta.com/using-marta.aspx ) from the Airport directly to Turner Field. It cost $2.50 and took 30 minutes. If you choose to rent a car, here's a website for transportation information and maps: http://www.atlanta.net/visitors/mapstransporation.html . Depending on when you're returning to Denver, you can spend a nice evening or a whole day or two in Atlanta. Some really nice places to visit include the world's largest aquarium, the Georgia Aquarium (Website: http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/ ), which you can reach by a 15 minute walk from the MARTA train. Nearby is the World of Coca-Cola (Website: http://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/ ), which is a big commercial, but still kind of neat. Connecting these two areas is Centennial Olympic Park that was constructed for the Olympics (Website:
http://www.centennialpark.com/ ). It's a nice urban park with a nice visitor center. Also close to this area is the CNN World Headquarters. You can tour the studios (Website: http://www.cnn.com/tour/). North of the Park is an excellent brew pub called Five Seasons Brewery (Website: http://5seasons.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=25&Itemid=54 ). Try the 'Venus' beer. For nightlife in Atlanta, head to Kenny's Alley (Websites: http://www.underground-atlanta.com/nightlife/kennys-alley.html and
http://www.atlanta.net/detailPages/detail_page.aspx?accountnum=001172M ), which is part of the Underground Atlanta area.
North of this area by way of the MARTA, you can visit the Margaret Mitchell House; she was the author of Gone With the Wind (Website: http://www.margaretmitchellhouse.com/ ). The Martin Luther King Birthplace is a National Historic Site run by the US Park Service (Website: http://www.nps.gov/malu/index.htm ). It is free to visit, and most of it is self-guided.
If you are into boutique shops, galleries, and live music, head to Decatur. It's six miles east of downtown Atlanta, but you can take the MARTA (Website: http://www.visitdecaturgeorgia.com/index.aspx?page=9 ). The Pinewood Tippling Room in Decatur (Website: http://www.pinewoodtr.com/ ) served a nice breakfast. There's plenty of nice places to eat in this town.
Another walkable community along the MARTA line that has a variety of shops and restaurants is East Point (Website: http://www.atlanta.net/eastpoint/index.aspx ). This area is close to the airport. You can stay at a hotel in this area and be near Hartsfield via the MARTA.
If you rent a car, you can head to Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain Park is easy to find. It is located just 15 miles east of downtown Atlanta on US Highway 78. Just take exit 39 B off Interstate 285 and follow Highway 78 east for 8 miles. The main entrance for Stone Mountain Park is exit 8 off of Highway 78. It's a park and home to the huge carving of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis (Websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain and http://www.stonemountainpark.org/ and http://www.stonemountainpark.com/ ).
Atlanta has a lot to offer, but it's quite humid in the summer. You can also use Atlanta as a jump-off point to drive to other places such as Charleston, SC, Savanah, GA, or Myrtle Beach, SC.
Enjoy!
Mike Summers
George Hobica - November 2013:
Atlanta (ATL)
Short (1-4 hours): Nap - or just kick back in privacy – with free wireless and DIRECTV at Minute Suites ($34/hr, Concourse B). Fuel up on smart grub and great cocktails at One Flew South (Concourse E).
Long (4 hours or more): Take MARTA to the Arts District Station ($2.50, 25 min) to the High Museum of Art or go on a long walk in Piedmont Park, Atlanta's giant front lawn.
Very long (overnight): Ride the free SkyTrain one stop to SpringHill Suites (from $169), check-in, drop bags. Take MARTA to Midtown ($2.50, 20 min), dinner one block east at Hugh Acheson's very good Empire State South.
More info: Check out Airfare Watchdog's ATL insider guide.
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